Printing Large Posters - Tips & Tricks

How to make a family history poster using software and a color printer

If you are like me, you have collected hundreds of family names into your database over the years. I started thinking about what will happen to this database when I pass on. I then came up with the idea of printing large family history posters for my family, cousins and extended family. This turned out to be a big hit with my family and genealogy friends.

It also forced me to complete my genealogy research by downloading or purchasing birth records,  marriage  records and death certificates and other vital records as needed.

Have you collected all of your information?

Information about your family, ordered Military Records, read any books for reference.

Check RootsWeb, Ancestry and World Vital Records for links.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

http://www.ancestry.com/

http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/

In Ancestry, go to: One World Tree, type in name of person, on right hand side, click: Find Famous Relatives.

Software for Mac or PC

Microsoft Word, PageMaker (no longer made), QuarkXPress, Adobe In Design (my favorite). Adobe sells a package called Adobe Creative Suite (ACS) and they have several different versions and prices.

I use ACS-3 Design Premium, which includes Dream Weaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, In Design and Acrobat Professional. They also have Web Premium, Production Premium and Master Collection. There is ACS-4 out and ACS-5 is coming soon.

Photos

Most printers require TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) photos in CMYK format. You will need some version of Photoshop and possible a good scanner for editing your photos.

If someone sends me a JPEG (Joint Photographer Expert Group) photo at 72-DPI, I will print it on my printer, than scan it into Adobe Photoshop and save as a TIFF file.

I usually have to spend a few minutes cleaning up the photo, however in Photoshop there is something called “dust and scratches” that does a great job cleaning up photos.

Printing

Printing at home is fun and inexpensive, you can see the results in minutes, and if you make a mistake, no problem. Using a service bureau or a local printer, you should make a PDF file and purchase your own paper supply.

Be careful of paper supplied by the printer, it may or may not be acid free. Try to estimate how many prints you really need, how many “cousins” in your family.

You must have a good understanding of CMYK and RGB. RGB (Red, Green & Blue) is for web, DVD, and e-mail; CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black) is for printing.

In Photoshop, go to Image, then to Mode. Then click RGB Color, CMYK Color, or gray scale. Learn to make a PDF file.

What type of printer do I need?

Check and see your printer prints 11, 12 or 13 inches wide paper.  Most printers connect to your computer using USB and some use Ethernet and FireWire (IEEE 1394). As your project grows larger and more complex, you may want to invest in a fast printer with a high-speed connection.

Some people prefer Premium Glossy Photo Paper. I prefer Matte Paper Heavyweight as my choice. I like paper that is thick and can be handled by several people without developing wrinkles.

I also use paper that is compatible with inkjet, laser, color copier, acid free, 2-side printing and 30% PC fiber compatible.

What sizes do you like for printing posters, 8.5 x 11, 11 x 17, and 12 x 18; the choices are yours.

What weight, 30#, 60#, 80# or 100# Cover, you decide what is best for you, I use 100 pound cover, acid free, archival paper.

Acid Free – always, if you walk into a local printer and ask them about acid free paper, and they say they don’t know what you are talking about, run out as fast as you can.

What is the difference between ink-jet & lasers printers? Laser is inexpensive when printing 12 or more, Ink Jet is more economical when printing 10 or less.

I currently use my color printer for proof printing only, and then I make a PDF and use a local printer for laser quality prints on my paper.

Using your own printer

If you have a printer with 3-4-ink cartridges, it’s probably prints RGB

If you have a printer with 6-8-ink cartridges, it’s probably prints CMYK.

Please check your printer guide for more information.

Immigration Passenger Records - Part I

A New Look at Immigrant Passenger Manifests

Many people have found the Passenger Arrival Manifests for their Immigrant Ancestors on the Ellis Island Records site. I have found the Passenger manifests for all of my grandparents and several other relatives. Only recently, however, have I started to take a second look at these records to discover what additional information they contain about my ancestors – information that may be hidden in annotations and even on other pages of the manifests.

If you already have found the passenger manifest for your immigrant ancestor, take another look at the manifest and look for annotations. Two types of annotations were made. The first type was made prior to or at the time of arrival and includes:

Numbers in the left margin (typically 2 to 7 digits), especially on list of ships that sailed from England. This number is the contract ticket number and may be helpful in finding the individual in the British “Outbound Lists”.

Rarely, a solitary number to the left of the passenger’s name will indicate a Head Tax receipt number.

“Not shipped”, “NOB” (Not On Board), “Did Not Sail”, or “Cancelled”, often with the entire line crossed out indicate that, for some reason, the passenger listed did not sail with the ship.

Sometimes an entire line is crossed out, not because the passenger was not on board, but because they are officially listed on another page of the manifest.

An “X”, “D”, or “Held” at the left of the manifest, between columns 1 and 2 or in the name column, means that the passenger was temporarily detained or held for a Board of Special Inquiry and the name may have been recorded with further information in a list at the end of the manifest.

The notation “S.I.” or “B.S.I.” at the left side of the manifest before the name means that the passenger was held for a Board of Special Inquiry hearing and the name may have been recorded with further information in a list at the end of the manifest.

The notation “USB” or “US Born” or “USC” (US Citizen) may have been made to indicate that the record is for a returning citizen of the United States.

The letter “C” followed by a string of numbers (C-######), indicating the Naturalization certificate number, may have been made on the records of returning citizens.

The second type of annotation was made after arrival and includes: Numbers similar to “435/621″ with no date is the New York file number which indicates an early verification/record check. The actual file no longer exists.

Numbers similar to “432731/435765″ indicate that the passenger was a permanent resident of the United States returning with a Re-entry Permit.

Numbers similar to “1X-151593″ indicate that the arrival of the immigrant was verified prior to naturalization and typically indicates that the verification was made after 1926. The first number indicates the naturalization district, the “X”, if present, indicates that no fee was required for the Certificate of Arrival, and the second part of the number is the Certificate of Arrival number or the Application number.

The date of the Certificate of Arrival or the date of Application may follow the Certificate of Arrival number or Application number.

“C/A” indicates a request for a ”Certificate of Arrival” was made in connection with the filing of papers for Naturalization purposes.

“V/L” indicates a “Verification of landing” was made.

“W/A” indicates that a Warrant of Arrest was made.

“404″ or “405″ is the Verification Form used to reply to a request for Passenger Manifest information to the INS.

If only the name is crossed out with a line or a series of X’s and another name was written in, the name was officially amended.

The manifest page for the Siborowski/Skowronski family shows a number of these annotations, including “S.I.” showing that one family was sent to a Board of Special Inquiry, an “X” showing that the Siborowski/Skowronski family was detained, and a listing of numbers indicating that Certificates of Arrival were issued for some of the passengers, including Pawel Skowronski.

To find additional information such as the “Record of Detained Alien Passengers” or the “Record of Release of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry”, repeatedly click on the arrow to move to the next frame of the film (on the Ellis Island Records site) or scroll through the microfilm to the end. You’ll need to be careful with the Ellis Island site, however, since many of the records are recorded in reverse order, and the “forward” arrow may actually take you backward through the pages in the manifest.

Stephen Morse’s Website

If you already know when your immigrant ancestor arrived and you know the name of the ship on which they traveled, it may be far easier to use Stephen Morse’s website to scroll to the end of the film. Go to Stephen Morse’s site, click on Ship Lists, enter the name of the ship and the date of arrival, and click on “Search” and you will be presented with a link to the correct manifest. You may still need to scroll through images to find the beginning or end of the manifest, but on Stephen Morse’s site, you can scroll though four frames at a time rather than one at a time on the Ellis Island Site. Since Stephen Morse’s site actually directs you to the records on the Ellis Island Records site, you may need to click on the -1 button rather than the +1 button to move forward to the next image if the images were scanned from last to first.  If you have the actual frame number for the image of interest, you can enter the frame number directly and jump to that image.

By accessing these images through Stephen Morse’s site, you can save or print the images, even though these functions are disabled on the Ellis Island Site.  

Furthermore, Stephen Morse’s site will provide additional information about microfilms containing the images for the ship of interest, information that may be useful to construct a reference source citation for the manifest image. The Siborowski/Skowronski manifest can be found on FHL US/CAN Film 1399018 and on U.S. National Archives Film Series T715, Roll 333, Volume 580, and Frame 108.

Of course, you can conduct your entire search for Passenger Manifests from Stephen Morse’s site, which includes a much more powerful and versatile search function than does the Ellis Island Records site. http://www.stephenmorse.com

 Record of Detained Aliens and Record of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry

At the end of a post-1903 passenger manifest from Ellis Island, you may find a Record of Detained Aliens and a Record of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry.  Although these images are available at the Ellis Island Records site, the individuals in the Records of Detained Aliens and Records of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry are not indexed and you will have to search for those names manually. Passengers who were dependants of a detained passenger were also detained, but only the number of dependants is listed in the Records of Detained Aliens; their names are not listed.

More Information About the Journey 

Finally, by scrolling through the entire ship’s manifest for a given date of arrival, one may discover that the ship stopped in several ports along the way. By examining all pages of the passenger manifest, it becomes apparent that, when the Siborowki/Skowronski family traveled to America, their ship the S.S. Graf Waldersee: departed Hamburg, Germany (on the Elbe River) on March 13, 1903; departed Cuxhaven, Germany (on the shore of the North Sea a the mouth of the Elbe River in Lower Saxony) on March 14, 1903; departed Boulogne-sur-Mer, France (at the mouth of the River Liane on the Pas de Calais, a narrow bottleneck that separates the English Channel from the North Sea) on March 15, 1903; departed Plymouth, England (in the southwest of England in the County of Devon at the mouths of the Rivers Plym and Tamar) on March 16, 1903; and arrived in New York on March 29, 1903.

Immigration Passenger Records - Part II

A New Look at Immigrant Passenger Manifests

The record by which an applicant for US citizenship declared their intent to become a citizen and renounced their allegiance to a foreign government. Early records of this type (before Sept. 1906) usually will have: name, country of birth or allegiance (but not town), date of the application and signature. Some (but very few) show the date and port of arrival in the US. After Sept. 26, 1906 much more detailed information is given including place of birth and port and date of arrival. A Declaration of Intention normally preceded proof of residence or a petition to become a citizen by two or more years. Exceptions: a person who entered the country while a minor, honorable military discharges, a person married to a citizen. 

Beginning with 1795 a person could declare their intent to become a citizen at any time after they arrived in the United States. A few people did this almost immediately upon arrival. The Declaration of Intention requirement ended in 1952 (although immigrants can still file a declaration if they want to - it is optional). 


Naturalization Petitions


Following the Declaration of Intention and meeting the residency requirements an applicant then filed this petition for formal application for US citizenship. There was a 5-year residency requirement (in the US) to become naturalized (raised to 14 years in 1798, lowered back to 5 in 1802). 
Generally minor children (not born in the US) could derive citizenship from their father when their father naturalized. 



From 1855 to 1922 alien women became citizens automatically if they married an American citizen. Women could derive citizenship from their spouses until 1922 when the law was changed. After 22 Sept 1922 an alien woman who married a US citizen could skip the Declaration of Intention and file for a Naturalization Petition. But if an alien woman married an alien man (after 22 Sept 1922) she would have to start her Naturalization proceedings at the beginning with a Declaration of Intention.

Naturalization Depositions


These are statements made by witnesses in support of an applicant's petition.

Certificates of Arrival


On this form the immigrant listed the port name, date and ship of arrival. Copies of this form were sent to the port of entry and checked by a clerk, who located the immigrant's passenger list. If a corresponding record was found, the INS issued a certificate of arrival and sent it to the naturalization court. Certificates of arrival were first issued under the Basic Naturalization Act of 1906, which went into effect on 27 September 1906. These certificates are generally included in a naturalization records file.

Records of Naturalization and Oaths of Allegiance


The document granting US citizenship to petitioners. Sometimes called the Certificate of Naturalization.

You may not always find every type of record for your ancestor. Slightly different records were kept during different time periods. In some cases all of the records are combined together in a single petition and record file.

Helpful Clues in the Census

The 1900-1930 Census Records tell whether a person was naturalized. Year of Naturalization is given in the 1920 Census.

Abbreviations used in the Citizenship column of census records: AL=Alien; NA=Naturalized; NR=Not Reported; PA=First Papers Filed (declaration of intention).

Naturalization and the Civil War

An Act of 17 July 1862, stated: "any alien, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, who has enlisted, or may enlist in the armies of the United States, either the regulars or volunteer forces, and has been, or may be hereafter, honorably discharged, shall be admitted to become a citizen of the United States, upon his petition, without any previous declaration of intention to become such; and he shall not be required to prove more than one year's residence." (Act of July 17, 1862, 12 Stat. 597, section 21)

Basically this allowed an honorably discharged Civil War veteran (who fought for the Union) to apply for citizenship without filing a declaration of intention and without the usual residency requirement. It did not grant him automatic citizenship - he still had to apply, but the naturalization process was expedited.

This legislation was enacted to encourage aliens (non-citizens) to enlist during the Civil War, and it also applied to later wars.

My Sources

BOOK: Christina Schaefer: “Guide to Naturalization Records of the United States”, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

BOOK: National Archives Trust Fund Board, Anne Bruner Eales & Robert M. Kvasnicka (editors): “Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives of the United States”, Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 2000: Pages 87 & 97.

BOOK: Loretto Dennis Szucs: “They Became Americans: Finding Naturalization Records and Ethnic Origins”, Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry, 1998.

Genealogy Calendar Info - Part 1

The Jewish, Julian, and Gregorian Calendars Demystified

The Jewish Calendar

Various calendars have been developed throughout history to mark the passage of time and are commonly based on the solar calendar (the secular calendar), the lunar calendar (the Muslim calendar), or a combination of the two (the Jewish calendar).

Molad, the new moon, defines the start of the new month. A lunar month lasts 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3 1/3 seconds, or 29 days, 12 hours, 793 halaqim. There are between 12 and 13 lunar months in a solar year.

Because 19 years encompass almost exactly 235 months, the Jewish calendar employs a cycle of 19 years, as do the Chinese calendar and the Ancient Greek calendar. In a cycle of 19 years, the Jewish calendar includes 12 common years of 12 months, and 7 leap years of 13 months. Leap years occur in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 of each 19-year cycle.

The months in the Jewish calendar are:

Tishri -30 days

Heshvan – 29 days

Kislev – 30 days

Tevret – 29 days

Shevat – 30 days

Adar 1 – 30 days (Adar 1 occurs only in leap years)

Adar 2 – 29 days

Nisan – 30 days

Iyyar – 29 days

Sivan – 30 days

Tamuz – 29 days

Ab – 30 days

Elul – 29 days

However, a common year is 8 hours, 876 halaqim too short and a leap year is 2 hours, 491 halaqim too long.

Thus, the first day of Tishri will drift from the molad of Tishri (the new moon that marks the beginning of the month of Tishri). If the molad falls on the first day of Tishri, everything is fine. If the first of Tishri arrives too soon, the Jewish calendar adds one day to the preceding month of Heshvan (this is called a complete year). If the first day of Tishri arrives too late, the Jewish calendar subtracts a day from the preceding month of Kislev (this is called a defective year).

In a defective year, Heshvan is 29 days, Kislev is 29 days, a common year is 353 days, and a leap year is 383 days.

In a normal year, Heshvan is 29 days, Kislev is 30 days, a common year is 354 days, and a leap year is 384 days.

In a complete year, Heshvan is 30 days, Kislev is 30 days, a common year is 355 days, and a leap year is 385 days.

But here is where things get more complicated. There are four rules that further govern the Jewish calendar.

If molad Tishri falls on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday, the first day of Tishri must be delayed by one day. If Tishri begins on a Wednesday or Friday, Yom Kippur would fall on a Friday or a Sunday, making it impossible to prepare food for the day after the Yom Kippur fast, due to Sabbath restrictions. if Tishri begins on a Sunday, the seventh day of Succoth would fall on the Sabbath.

If molad Tishri occurs at noon or later, the first day of Tishri must be delayed by one day in order to ensure that the new crescent moon is visible during the first day of the year.

If molad Tishri falls on a Tuesday at 3:11:20 AM or later, then the first of Tishri is delayed by one day, otherwise both rules 1 and 2 will be invoked, making the previous year too long (356 days).

If molad Tishri after a leap year falls on Monday at 9:32:43 1/3 AM or after, then the first of Tishri is delayed by one day, otherwise the previous leap year would have been delayed by both rules 1 and 2, making the previous leap year too short (382 days).

Biblical creation began on the 25th of Elul in year 1 and ended on the 1st of Tishri in year 2. Today, May 11, 2008 is the 6th of Iyyar in the year 5768. The conversion from the Gregorian calendar, which we use today to the Jewish calendar, can be computed for Jewish Calendar Conversions.

The Jewish calendar slowly creeps forward compared to the astronomical year since a year lasts 365.2422 days, but the Jewish calendar, on average, lasts 365.2468 days. Thus, the Jewish calendar will creep one day forward every 217 years. The Gregorian calendar which is in common use today is also subject to calendar creep, but the Gregorian calendar creeps forward only 1 day every 3333 years. By comparison, the Julian calendar, which was replaced by the Gregorian calendar, crept forward 1 day every 128 years.

The Julian Calendar

In 45 B.C Julius Caesar ordered a calendar consisting of twelve months based on a solar year. This calendar employed a cycle of three years of 365 days, followed by a year of 366 days (leap year). When first implemented, the "Julian Calendar" also moved the beginning of the year from March 1 to January 1. However, following the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, the new year was gradually realigned to coincide with Christian festivals until by the seventh century, Christmas Day marked the beginning of the new year in many countries.

By the ninth century, parts of southern Europe began observing first day of the New Year on March 25 to coincide with Annunciation Day (the church holiday nine months prior to Christmas celebrating the Angel Gabriel's revelation to the Virgin Mary that she was to be the mother of the Messiah). The last day of the year was March 24. However, England did not adopt this change in the beginning of the New Year until late in the twelfth century.

Because the year began in March, records referring to the "first month" pertain to March; to the second month pertain to April, etc., so that "the 19th of the 12th month" would be February 19. In fact, in Latin, September means seventh month, October means eighth month, November means ninth month, and December means tenth month. Use of numbers, rather than names, of months was especially prevalent in Quaker records.

Genealogy Calendar Info - Part II

The Gregorian Calendar

During the middle ages, it began to become apparent that the Julian leap year formula had overcompensated for the actual length of a solar year, having added an extra day every 128 years. However, no adjustments were made to compensate. By 1582, seasonal equinoxes were falling 10 days "too early," and some church holidays, such as Easter, did not always fall in the proper seasons. In that year, Pope Gregory XIII authorized, and most Roman Catholic countries adopted, the "Gregorian" or "New Style" Calendar." As part of the change, ten days were dropped from the month of October, and the formula for determining leap years was revised so that only years divisible by 400 (e.g., 1600, 2000) at the end of a century would be leap years. January 1 was established as the first day of the New Year. Protestant countries, including England and its colonies, not recognizing the authority of the Pope, continued to use the Julian calendar.

Double Dating

Between 1582 and 1752, not only were two calendars in use in Europe (and in European colonies), but also two different starts of the year were in use in England. Although the "Legal" year began on March 25, the use of the Gregorian calendar by other European countries led to January 1 becoming commonly celebrated as "New Year's Day" and given as the first day of the year in almanacs.

To avoid misinterpretation, both the "Old Style" and "New Style" year was often used in English and colonial records for dates falling between the New Year (January 1) and old New Year (March 25), a system known as "double dating." Such dates are usually identified by a slash mark [/] breaking the "Old Style" and "New Style" year, for example, March 19, 1631/2. Occasionally, writers would express the double date with a hyphen, for example, March 19, 1631-32. In general, double dating was more common in civil than church and ecclesiastical records.

The Changes Of 1752

In accordance with a 1750 Act of Parliament England and its colonies changed calendars in 1752. By that time, the discrepancy between a solar year and the Julian calendar had grown by an additional day, so that the calendar used in England and its colonies was 11 days out-of-sync with the Gregorian calendar in use in most other parts of Europe.

England's calendar change included three major components. The Gregorian calendar, changing the formula for calculating leap years, replaced the Julian calendar. The beginning of the legal New Year was moved from March 25 to January 1. Finally, 11 days were dropped from the month of September 1752.

The changeover involved a series of steps:

December 31, 1750 was followed by January 1, 1750 (under the "Old Style" calendar, December was the 10th month and January the 11th

March 24, 1750 was followed by March 25, 1751 (March 25 was the first day of the "Old Style" year)

December 31, 1751 was followed by January 1, 1752 (the switch from March 25 to January 1 as the first day of the year)

September 2, 1752 was followed by September 14, 1752 (drop of 11 days to conform to the Gregorian calendar)

Which Calendar Is It?

Out of context, it is sometimes hard to determine whether information in colonial records was entered "Old Style" or "New Style." Some examples:

In the Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, “A Corte at New Towne, Hartford, CT 27 December 1636” is immediately followed by a court held “21 February 1636” which is followed, in turn, by “A Cort at Hartford, CT, 28 March 1637. Although it may first appear that the February session was entered out of sequence, the arrangement is actually correct. Under the "Old Style" calendar and legal New Year, 1636 began on March 25. December 1636 was followed by January 1636 and February 1636, and 1636 continued through March 24.

The “Warwick Patent” is dated the "Nineteenth day of March in the Seventh/ year of ye reigned of our Sovergne Lord Charles by ye grace of God / King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland defender of ye faith & Anno Dom/ 1631." Although not double dated, the historical context indicates that the date as recorded was "Old Style." If double dated, it would have been recorded as March 19, 1631/2; if recorded "New Style," it would be March 19, 1632.

John and Joanne Carrington, accused of "familiarity with Satan the great Enemy of God and mankind" were indicted by Connecticut's Particular Court on "6 March 1650/1." In his "diary" or notebook, Matthew Grant records that they were executed "mar. 19.50." Although Grant did not employ the double date, had he done so it would have been recorded as March 19, 1650/1.

Although current historical scholarship calls for retention of Old Style dates in transcriptions, historians and genealogists need to be aware that some people living at the time converted the date of an event, such as a birthday, from Old Style to New Style. George Washington, for example, was born on February 11, 1731 under the Julian Calendar, but changed the date to February 22, 1732 to reflect the Gregorian Calendar.

Today, Americans are used to a calendar with a "year" based the earth's rotation around the sun, with "months" having no relationship to the cycles of the moon and New Years Day falling on January 1. However, that system was not adopted in England and its colonies until 1752. The changes implemented that year have created challenges for historians and genealogists working with early colonial records, since it is sometimes hard to determine whether information was entered according to the then-current English calendar or the "New Style" calendar we use today.

Throughout history there have been numerous attempts to convey time in relation to the sun and moon. Even now the Chinese and Islamic calendars are based on the motion of the moon around the earth, rather than the motion of the earth in relation to the sun, and the Jewish calendar links years to the cycle of the sun and months to the cycle of the moon.

Ellis Island - Part Two

Those with visible health problems or diseases were sent home or held in the island's hospital facilities for long periods of time. Then they were asked 29 questions including name, occupation, and the amount of money they carried with them. Generally those immigrants who were approved spent from two to five hours at Ellis Island. However more than three thousand would-be immigrants died on Ellis Island while being held in the hospital facilities. Some unskilled workers were rejected outright because they were considered "likely to become a public charge." About 2 percent were denied admission to the U.S. and sent back to their countries of origin for reasons such as chronic contagious disease, criminal background, or insanity. Ellis Island was sometimes known as "The Island of Tears" or "Heartbreak Island" because of those 2% who were not admitted after the long transatlantic voyage.

Writer Louis Adamic came to America from Slovenia in southeastern Europe in 1913. Adamic described the night he spent on Ellis Island. He and many other immigrants slept on bunk beds in a huge hall. Lacking a warm blanket, the young man "shivered, sleepless, all night, listening to snores" and dreams "in perhaps a dozen different languages". The facility was so large that the dining room could seat 1,000 people.

During World War I, the German sabotage of the Black Tom Wharf ammunition depot damaged buildings on Ellis Island. The repairs included the current barrel-vaulted ceiling of the Main Hall. During the war, Ellis Island was used to intern German merchant mariners and enemy aliens as well as a processing center for returning sick and wounded U.S. soldiers. Ellis Island still managed to process tens of thousands of immigrants a year during this time, but much fewer than the hundreds of thousands a year who arrived before the war. After the war immigration rapidly returned to earlier levels.

Mass processing of immigrants at Ellis Island ended in 1924 after the Immigration Act of 1924 greatly restricted immigration and allowed processing at overseas embassies. After this time Ellis Island became primarily a detention and deportation processing center. During and immediately following World War II, Ellis Island served as Coast Guard training base and as an internment camp for enemy aliens - American civilians or immigrants detained for fear of spying, sabotage, etc. Some 7,000 Germans, Italians and Japanese would be detained at Ellis Island.

The Internal Security Act of 1950 barred members of Communist or Fascist organizations from immigrating to the U.S. Ellis Island saw detention peak at 1,500 but by 1952, after changes to immigration law and policies, only 30 detainees were present. In November 1954, Ellis Island was closed and unsuccessful attempts to redevelop the site began until its landmark status was established.

As with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, Ellis Island, along with Statue of Liberty, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.

Today Ellis Island houses a museum reachable by ferry from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey and from the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City. The Statue of Liberty, sometimes thought to be on Ellis Island because of its symbolism as a welcome to immigrants, is actually on nearby Liberty Island, which is about 1/2 mile to the south. There is also ferry service between the two islands.

Ellis Island - Part One

Ellis Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor, is the location of what was from January 1, 1892, until November 12, 1954 the facility that replaced the state-run Castle Garden Immigration Depot (1855–1890) in Manhattan. It is owned by the Federal government and is now part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, under the jurisdiction of the US National Park Service. Ellis Island was also the subject of a border dispute between the states of New York and New Jersey (see below). It is situated predominantly in Jersey City, New Jersey, although a small portion of its territory falls within neighboring New York City.

Originally called Little Oyster Island, Ellis Island acquired its name from Samuel Ellis, a colonial New Yorker, possibly from Wales.

It was to be sold by Samuel Ellis, no. 1, Greenwich Street, at the north river near the Jewish Market, That pleasant situated Island called Oyster Island, lying in New Bay, near Powle's Hook, together with all its improvements which are considerable; also, two lots of ground, one at the lower end of Queen street, joining Luke's wharf, the other in Greenwich street, between Petition and Dey streets, and a parcel of spars for masts, yards, brooms, bowsprits, & c. and a parcel of timber fit for pumps and buildings of docks; and a few barrels of excellent shad and herrings, and others of an inferior quality fit for shipping; and a few thousand of red herring of his own curing, that he will warrant to keep good in carrying to any part of the world, and a quantity of twine which he sell very low, which is the best sort of twine, for tyke nets. Also a large Pleasure Sleigh, almost new.

The Ellis Island Immigrant Station was designed by architects Edward Lippincott Tilton and William Alciphron Boring. They received a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exposition for the building's design. The architecture competition was the second under the Tarsney Act, which had permitted private architects rather than government architects in the Office of the Supervising Architect to design federal buildings. The federal immigration station opened on January 1, 1892 and was closed on November 12, 1954, but not before 12 million immigrants were inspected there by the US Bureau of Immigration (Immigration and Naturalization Service). In the 35 years before Ellis Island opened, over 8 million immigrants had been processed locally by New York State officials at Castle Garden Immigration Depot in Manhattan. 1907 was the peak year for immigration at Ellis Island with 1,004,756 immigrants processed. The all-time daily high also occurred this year on April 17, which saw a total of 11,747 immigrants arrive.